Toh 705The Noble Hundred and Eight Names of Avalokiteśvara [1]

Summary

This is one of two short texts with the same title, The
Noble Hundred and Eight Names of Avalokiteśvara, each of which enumerates
the hundred and eight “names” of Avalokiteśvara, which are more like descriptive epithets.
The first part of the text describes his many excellent qualities. The second part of the
text describes the benefits that result from praising Avalokiteśvara with these names.

Acknowledgements

This publication was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000:
Translating the Words of the Buddha.

The text was translated, edited, and introduced by the 84000 translation team.
Catherine Dalton produced the translation and wrote the introduction. Torsten Gerloff
edited the translation and the introduction, and Dawn Collins copyedited the text. Martina
Cotter was in charge of the digital publication process.

Introduction

The Noble Hundred and Eight Names of Avalokiteśvara [1] opens with the Blessed One residing at Avalokiteśvara’s palace,
teaching the Dharma to a vast retinue. After the teaching, Brahmā and others extensively
praise the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, enumerating his “names” in the form of
descriptive qualities, including qualities specific to Avalokiteśvara, along with a
number of qualities corresponding with more general lists of the major and minor marks
of an awakened being. The text concludes by describing the benefits that result from
praising Avalokiteśvara with these names, including protection from illness, rebirth in
Sukhāvatī, and obtaining positive qualities, such as intelligence, heroism, fortune, and
skill in the sciences.

The Noble Hundred and Eight Names of Avalokiteśvara [1] is one of several canonical texts that focus on Avalokiteśvara,
the bodhisattva of compassion. It belongs to a genre of “Hundred and Eight Names” texts
that extoll deities by listing their “names,” which are often more like descriptive
epithets. Sixteen such “Hundred and Eight Names” works are included in the Kangyur and
the present text is one of three such texts dedicated to Avalokiteśvara. One of these
three, The Dhāraṇī-Mantra of the One Hundred and Eight Names of
Avalokiteśvara (Toh 634/874), is a completely different text from the present
one. However, the other, also titled The Noble Hundred and Eight
Names of Avalokiteśvara [2] (Toh 706), is essentially
a different recension of the present text.

Toh 705/900 and Toh 706 are similar enough to be considered different versions
of the “same” text. However, the differences between them are significant enough that
the editors of the Degé Kangyur elected to include both works, side-by-side. We have
likewise elected to translate them separately. These two works share a very large
percentage of their content, especially in the introductory and concluding narrative
sections. The structure of the praise by way of the hundred and eight names, however, is
distinct in the two works. In Toh 705/900, the praise has been rendered into Tibetan in
verse, while in Toh 706 the praise is rendered in prose. There are also additional
differences in some of the content in the praise section, suggesting that the two
versions likely represent translations of different Sanskrit recensions of the work. The
close relationship between Toh 705 and Toh 706 is further highlighted by the fact that
the final colophons at the end of both versions append the additional title “The Receptacle of the Precious Relics of all Victors,” with the
only difference being that the attribute “precious” is not contained in Toh 706.

The Noble Hundred and Eight Names of Avalokiteśvara [1] does not appear to survive in Sanskrit. However, a text by the
same name was translated into Chinese and is preserved in the Taishō canon as Taishō
1054, translated by Tian Xizai, who was active in the tenth century. Although the Tibetan translation of
The Noble Hundred and Eight Names of Avalokiteśvara [1]
(Toh 705/900) lacks a translators’ colophon (as does Toh 706), we can date it to the
imperial period, since the title is listed in both the Denkarma and Phangthangma
imperial catalogs. It is also one of
the texts that appears most frequently at Dunhuang. According to Dalton and van
Schaik, the Dunhuang recensions correspond with Toh 705.

Like many dhāraṇī texts, The Noble Hundred and Eight
Names of Avalokiteśvara [1] is found in the Tantra section of both the Tshalpa
and Thempangma lineage Kangyurs as a Kriyā tantra. In the Degé Kangyur and other Tshalpa
lineage Kangyurs that have a Dhāraṇī section, it is additionally found
there. The recension found in the Tantra section of the Degé Kangyur (Toh 705) and the
one found in the Dhāraṇī section (Toh 900) are almost identical, containing only minor differences. There are occasional
word variances between the two recensions, where the variant word has the same meaning.
There are also a few places where a word is found replaced by a word with a different
meaning. Occasionally, the order of items in a list appears differently or a word may be
added or missing in one version or the other. In most cases where there are differences,
the Stok Palace Kangyur recension agrees with Toh 900 rather than Toh 705. However, it
also contains additional variations.

This English translation follows the readings in Toh 705. We have noted in the
footnotes the variants in Toh 900 that would affect the meaning of the translation or
its word order. We did not note the instances where the variants would not affect the
translation. We also consulted the notes to the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur and the Stok Palace Kangyur
recension of the text in preparing this translation, as well as Toh 706, the largely
parallel text discussed above.

The Translation

The Noble Hundred and Eight Names of Avalokiteśvara

[1]

Homage to
all the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing at the noble
Avalokiteśvara’s abode at the summit of Mount Potala, a place that was arrayed with many
different fragrant flowers, golden like the color of the Jambu River, and shining with a
variety of jewels. There he was surrounded by many trillions of gods, nāgas, yakṣas,
rākṣasas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and non-humans, who
honored him, took him as their teacher, respected him, made offerings to him, and
revered him. In front of this group, he taught the Dharma.

He exclusively taught, in a perfect manner, the pure conduct—virtuous in the
beginning, virtuous in the middle, and virtuous in the end, excellent in meaning,
beautiful in expression, completely cleansed, and completely pure, unmixed, complete, and utterly clear. Thereafter, Brahmā and so
forth praised the bodhisattva great being, noble Avalokiteśvara, as follows:

“Ah, Blessed Buddha!

You have done what is to be done, accomplished the task,

Cast off the burden, achieved your own aims,

And utterly cleared away the ties to existence.

Your words are authentic and your mind completely free.

Your wisdom is completely liberated.

Like the Great Elephant, you know all.

You have attained the supreme perfection

Of completely controlling your mind.

You have perfected the accumulation of wisdom.

You have crossed the wilderness of existence.

You strive in actions for others’ benefit.

Your mind is suffused with compassion,

And you have love for every being.

Arisen from love, you strive toward virtue

And are skilled in freeing limitless beings.

You have been born from the sugatas themselves

And are the word of the sugatas.

You are the single friend of the three worlds.

Free from desire, anger, and delusion,

You have left behind the three stains,

And are the perfection of the three knowledges.

You have the six superknowledges.

Your body is rounded like the nyagrodha tree.

You possess the thirty-two

Marks of a great being

And your body is also fully adorned

With the eighty minor marks.

Golden in color,

Your body is tall and edged with white.

Like the young nāgakesara,

You are slightly reddish in color.

You have a crowning topknot

Wrapped with many locks.

Amitābha sits upon your crown,

Radiating out rays of light.

Your aura of light, a fathom in size, blazes

Like a golden mountain, spreading with renown.

Your magnificence is great.

You are endowed with an uṣṇīṣa,

Radiant like the sun shining on an eastern ridge.

A sash blazing with precious gems

Is an adornment across your body.

You are extremely learned about the bhūmis.

You practice the ten perfections.

Your moral conduct is uncorrupted, untorn.

Your breast is like a protective lion.

Your body is smooth and supple.

You gaze and depart like a chief.

Similar to a right-coiling conch,

Your forehead is like the half-moon.

Your forehead is extremely broad

And there is no break between your eyebrows.

Your eyes blaze like precious gems.

Your nose is slightly raised.

Your teeth are pressed down by your lips

And your tongue can cover the three thousand worlds.

The openings of your ears are very deep,

Your throat is like the neck of a vase,

And your shoulders are extremely round.

The fingers and joints
of your hands are long,

Your fingernails are smooth and slightly red,

And your hands are webbed.

At the palms of your hands and soles of your feet,

You are adorned with wheels.

You are beautiful like an autumn lotus.

Your complexion is smooth and your body strong.

Your speech is deep like Brahmā’s voice.

You are lovely and delightful,

A joy to see, and your splendor pleasing.

Arisen from a lotus, you are lotus colored.

You are born from a pure lotus

And seated upon a pure lotus seat.

You hold a beautiful lotus in your hand.

You hold a round anointing vase in your hand.

You wear the skin of a black deer

And you hold a staff and a rosary.

Due to auspiciousness, you are pure.

You are the first to speak, and you speak sincerely.

You shower down a rain of nectar.

You are like a precious, wish-fulfilling gem.

You delight all beings.

You are like a beautiful tree.

You are the sustenance of all beings.

You are the emanation of all buddhas.

You possess the sugatas’ accoutrements.

You bear the relics of the sugatas.

Each and every bodily hair of yours

Is the sovereign of all beings.

You make merit and carry out virtue.

You act without delay and with certainty.

Your diligence is renowned.

You have gone completely beyond saṃsāra.

You are empowered as a regent of the True Dharma.

You turn with delight the wish-fulfilling wheel.

As Amoghapāśa, you draw out the afflictive emotions.

As noble Hayagrīva, you conquer the four māras.

As the wrathful Nīlakaṇṭha, you clear away poison.

You liberate from fear of makaras and crocodiles.

The goddess Tārā follows you.

Bhṛkuṭī carries out your commands.

You follow the way of the Victors.

You have great power and good recall.

You have excellent qualities and loving kindness.

You are endowed with wisdom and glory.

You have moral conduct and are purposeful.

You are a knower of all things.

You cut off every doubt.

You are a propounder of every dharma.

You are the teacher of the whole world.

Your face is like the full moon.

Your lower body is adorned with every gem.

You are like a golden sacrificial post,

More radiant than a thousand suns.

Brahmā and the others bow before you—

Homage to the world’s protector!”

Whoever praises noble Avalokiteśvara by means of these one hundred and eight
names will utterly purify the karmic obscuration caused by having engaged in the five
actions of immediate consequence. They will enter into all maṇḍalas. They will also
accomplish all mantras. For a thousand eons, they will not be born in the lower realms.
They will not fall into Avīci.

Whoever rises at dawn and reads this, or has someone read it, or recites it
aloud, will be free from all physical illnesses—like leprosy, boils, lung diseases,
difficulty breathing, and so forth. They will recall all of their previous births. They
will be like the children of the gods. Also, at the time of death, they will take
rebirth in the realm of Sukhāvatī. Wherever they are born and wherever they reside, they
will never be separated from noble Avalokiteśvara. If they recite this continually, they
will become intelligent. They will become heroic. They will become sweet voiced. They
will become fortunate. They will become skilled in all the sciences. They will become
someone who speaks nobly.

If one offers praise with this praise, the result will be no different at all
from the result that would come from making offerings to blessed ones equal in number to
the grains of sand in sixty-two Ganges River.

Notes

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

Modern Sources